Combining management and coaching for performance: the ideal manager-coach profile

HR leaders estimate that managers should spend approximately one-third of their time coaching their subordinates. However, it is estimated that managers spend only 9% of their time developing their teams’ skills. Is effectively coaching teams a matter of quality or quantity? According to Jaime Roca, an HR executive at Gartner, the time spent training subordinates is not important because it is the quality, not the quantity, of coaching that truly makes a difference in performance.

• Which coaching technique is most effective in terms of results?
• What are the most common manager-coach profiles?
• What ‘approach’ should managers adopt to further engage their teams?

Harvard Business Review outlines 4 different types of manager-coaches, their characteristics and their impact on sales performance.

The Teacher Manager

The teacher manager has extensive operational experience and provides technical support to their team. They provide personalized feedback to each salesperson in the form of advice based on their professional knowledge and experience. They operate with a knowledge transfer mindset and represent the smallest proportion of managers (22%).

The ‘Always-On’ Manager

The so-called “always-on” manager is more akin to an HR professional than a superior. They regularly track the skill development of their employees and seek to continuously train them, as they consider this mission an integral part of their role. While this genuine investment in coaching their teams makes them an ideal manager in the eyes of HR, the performance results fall short.

By constantly wanting to give more feedback, its scope and quality drastically diminish. This overwhelming method of evaluating employee skills can prove counterproductive and detrimental to the autonomy of sales teams. Furthermore, coaching risks overshadowing needs identification and, consequently, leading to a loss in productivity. Finally, the “always-on” manager tends to overestimate the limits of their expertise and fails to direct their teams to other more relevant resources than themselves. The danger is creating erroneous answers to critical questions for an employee’s proper skill development.

The Connector Manager

Unlike the so-called “always-on” manager, the connector manager takes care to offer targeted feedback limited to their area of expertise. They are an excellent intermediary between their employees and other people in the organization who are better able to help their teams with certain issues. Furthermore, they take the time to evaluate the skills, interests, and needs of each team member and offer tailored feedback.

This coaching technique is the most effective of the four in terms of results on the performance of supervised teams. Furthermore, the connector manager has the virtue of knowing themselves well enough to direct their employees to other sources of answers than themselves if needed.

The Supporter Manager

The supporter manager is the most common category of manager-coach, accounting for 29% of managers. They have the particularity of opting for a free, non-interventionist approach based on positive feedback in business coaching. They entrust employees with the responsibility for their own development. While attentive and supportive of their teams, they are not as proactive regarding the skill development of their subordinates.

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Conclusion

For a positive impact on the performance of their subordinates, a manager-coach must focus on the depth and quality of the feedback they provide, not on its quantity. They must deepen their knowledge of their employees’ skills, professional aspirations, and needs to offer them more effective personalized coaching. Finally, a coach must encourage their employees to open internal discussions and to coach each other. In conclusion, the connector manager is positioned as the ideal manager-coach profile for performance.